PATIALA: Teachers under a joint forum, ‘Sanjha Adhyapak Morcha’, on Sunday staged a protest at
Jassowal village on the outskirts of
Patiala over their demands, which include regularisation of jobs.
The teachers were scheduled to protest in a ground near
Rajpura colony but later the district administration allotted them a venue at
Sidhuwal village on the Patiala-Bhadson road. They protested against the policies of the state government and demanded to roll back its proposal to give basic salaries to teachers, who were employed under centrally sponsored schemes. The teachers also demanded teacher-eccentric transfer and rationalization policies and no bridge course clause. The union leaders alleged that instead of regularising jobs of contractual teachers, the state government was hell bent upon reducing salaries and focusing upon giving basic salaries only.
Meanwhile, demanding immediate meeting with chief minister
Amarinder Singh, the union leaders also made an attempt to carry out a march towards Patiala, but the police foiled their attempt. However, the district administration assured them of a meeting with the chief minister on April 27 in Chandigarh.
Lambasting the government for its failure to fulfil the promises made in its election manifesto, convener of the morcha
Kulwant Singh Gill said that, “The state government promised a lot for improving the standard of education, but it has failed to do so till date. The teachers had a lot of expectations from the Congress-led state government but nothing has been done so far.”
Representative image